Adam's "Dickensian" childhood: Top 5

Adam has a very nice family and had a happy childhood, but there's always something...some inane injustice regarding X Y Z. I decided to collect a few of these stories from Adam's upbringing to [lovingly] illustrate/mock his "Dickensian" childhood.

#5 New Zealand Spinach

In the Zakun household, fresh organic leafy greens from the garden were often served at dinner and New Zealand Spinach was the BANE of the kid's dinnertime experience. Turns out, Adam's mom was the only person who liked New Zealand Spinach so Adam's dad finally "put his foot down" and staged a "coup" when he declared, "I'm NOT growing New Zealand Spinach" in our garden anymore. I don't like, the kids don't like it...you're the only one who likes it." Adam's dad's culinary heroics saved the children from torturous meals New Zealand Spinach.

#4 Don't Squish the Bread

Growing up, Adam's mom made homemade bread most days using their bread machine. Hot, fresh, crusty, soft homemade bread right out of the bread machine BEGGED to be sliced immediately, but cutting or "squishing" the hot bread was highly frowned upon in the Zakun household. Adam would risk parental disapproval and"squish" the homemade loaf anyways because homemade bread + mayo + BBQ sauce + parmesan cheese was his favorite afternoon snack concoction and totally worth it. Adam's mom recently said she'd bake him a hot loaf of bread the next time he was home and let him squish it to his heart's content.

#3 Caraway Seeds

Before there was a Whole Foods to provide abundant cheese counters to every gentrifying neighborhood, there was the Cheese Coop out of Berkeley. The family would gather with other local gourmands to place bulk orders for European cheeses a few times a year. Adam the cheese lover declared often "I've never met a cheese I didn't enjoy." That was until the day that the Zakun family received a large portion of this new cheese with caraway seeds. Adam despised this caraway seed cheese because he didn't like how it tasted, but more so because he could no longer declare with certainty "I've never met a cheese I didn't enjoy."

#2 Hard Rock Bagels

Cultural authenticity is highly valued by the Zakuns and it's a wonderful intellectually curious way to live. Authentic gelato, authentic Chinese and of course authentic bagels, NYC water bagels to be more precise. The only problem is that the Zakuns live in the Bay Area and back in the day, there was just one bakery in town to buy authentic water bagels. While authentic, the bagels were quite hard and difficult to slice without risking a trip to the emergency room. They also had a larger than average hole in the middle rendering them incapable of holding much filling in a bagel sandwich. Unauthentic bagels were not allowed in the Zakun household so Adam had to "suffer" by gnawing on hard rock bagels.

#1 No Cheese 

Did I mention that Adam loves cheese. Cheese is delicious, it comes in many forms and it even serves as a "binder" to structurally secure ones food together. Cheese is especially delicious on Mexican food except in Adam's case, the family frequently got take out from a Mexican restaurant that did not offer cheese...or so his parents claimed at the time. Adam never wanted Mexican take out from this restaurant because his tacos never had any cheese. When he asked for cheese, his parents said that the restaurant had NO CHEESE. Years and years later as an adult, Adam mentioned this no cheese available situation. 

Adam: Wasn't it weird that the Mexican restaurant didn't offer cheese? 

Parentals: What are you talking about? 

Adam: The restaurant didn't stock cheese, that's what you said.

Parentals: Hmmm, I don't remember that. They've always had cheese, you just never asked for it.

Adam: [muttering] But I did ask for cheese!!!!!

Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies - perfect for ice cream sandwiches

Now I don't want you all to have the impression that the only people I ever make fun of on this blog are Adam and plasticmom so I'm going mix it up today and reconstruct the following email conversation I had with my friend Zristen earlier this week.

Zristen: Everyone enjoyed the cookies!  Are there any more?  Zave only got one...
plasticann: I only gave you four cookies, one for each Zority. 
Zristen: HAHAHA!  I ate 2, kids ate slower than me so I guess they split one.  Zave wasn't happy because he wanted more!

If only Zvy and Zwan realized that mommy ate their cookie and made them share one, heads would roll. I baked another batch of the cookies today and I split the Zority's share into four bags. I can't trust that Zristen will distribute them accordingly so I labeled each person's bag and I'm posting the cookie quantities publicly to ensure some accountability. 

Zristen: 3 cookies
Zave: 3 cookies
Zvy: 1 cookie
Zwan: 1 cookie

Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's from Barefoot Contessa and the thin cookies are perfect for ice cream sandwiches. Not too thick, not too hard, just thin and slightly crispy.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1 12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 shakes of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream butter and two sugars until light and fluffy
3. Add vanilla and eggs, mix well
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix
5. Mix in chocolate chips
6. Scoop batter using a medium cookie scoop or a tablespoon
7. Flatten dough a little
8. Bake around 10-15 minutes until brown 
9. Let cool for a few minutes on the pan
10. Move to cooling rack to fully cool

Cherry + Pear + Plum Clafouti

I had a random assortment of fruit that was just a smidge past ripe so I tried making this Clafouti recipe from Julia Childs.

Julia Child's Clafouti Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut up three cups of fruit into bite sized chunks: cherries, plums, pear, etc 
3. Blend the following in a blender
• 1.25 cups milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 ggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup flour
4. In a baking dish (9x9 or 9 inch pie or 7x10), pour a thin layer of batter
5. Bake thin layer of batter for 7-10 minutes
6. Layer fruit over batter. 
7. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar over fruit
8. Pour remaining batter over fruit
9. Bake for 40-60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted
10. Serve warm for dessert or breakfast

This is honestly the first recipe I've tried so I'm not sure if it's "the best," but it's pretty delicious and it's easy. I'll have to check out some other recipes and see how they compare.

Cheddar + Spicy Watermelon Chutney Sandwich

Pret A Manger in the UK offers an awesome aged cheddar with chutney sandwich that is delicious. Sadly, they don't really offer the same sandwich in the US. I made a huge batch of spicy watermelon chutney last week and I now have a new way to enjoy this chutney thanks to my friend Zbigail who suggested that I pair the spicy watermelon chutney with a good cheddar cheese. She's a genius because I now have my own version of that cheddar chutney sandwich. 

Cheddar Chutney Sandwich

• Bread...don't forget that
• Field greens
• Spicy Watermelon Chutney
• Nice slices of a good aged Cheddar. I used Beecher's Flagship from Seattle.

Unveiling our updated guest room ...hoping to attract more visitors

Adam and I place a high value on hospitality and we really enjoy having overnight guests. We're constantly trying to sell friends, relatives, strangers on the benefits of our "free" accommodations:

• You get your very own room
• You even get your own bathroom
• We're only five minutes from the T
• We promise NOT to bother you
• We're not creepy...no really we aren't

We get a fair number of guests, but not as many as one would think for free accommodations in a pretty great location. Maybe we're selling it a little too hard or maybe we're weird and creepy and no one has the heart to tell us. We'll never know!

Recently, I went on a trip to Nashville with my friend Zara's family where we stayed in a vacation rental. It was very nice in a nondescript Restoration Hardware style. While I'd rather have more color and personality in my own home, I realized that for a vacation or a hotel or a guest room, I'd prefer neutral clean colors because it's way more peaceful. When I got back home, I was chagrinned at the state of our guest room. Our guest room was objectively comfortable in the basic sense, but it had devolved over the years as a place to store random crap in the closet, unused frames under the bed, a riot of mismatched sheets in the bureau and a collection of discarded furniture. It was comfortable enough, but I thought we could do better with a few updates.

First I decluttered the entire room and removed old furniture, old lamps, frames, sheets to beds we no longer owned, etc. It's amazing how much stuff exploded out of the nooks and crannies of this room. Then we added a few improvements thanks to our friend Zave who patiently spent two evenings at our house this week helping me put everything up. Thanks also to Zristen who lent us Zave while she watched their two adorably rambunctious kids.

The goal was to create more space, add more light, neutralize the colors and add more functionality to the room without adding too much clutter.

Headboard:
I've wanted to buy a headboard for this room for years, but couldn't figure out how to move one into our home. Either we'd have to haul it over the 2nd floor balcony and hope it made it up the stairs to the 3rd floor or I could move in tiny pieces of wood and build one on the third floor in the room. It always ended with me throwing my hands up and giving up.

Judging from the photo above you're probably thinking, "hmmm, looks like a headboard, what gives?" It's faux, it's a decal, it basically a giant sticker. A faux headboard decal comes in a poster tube, it's relatively inexpensive and certainly reversible. The Olivia Headboard from Blik comes in two giant pieces and it's a two man two hour job to get it applied correctly. Zave is a perfectionist and therefore the right person for the job. Like Zave said, "it's better to spend the time to get it right." Ain't that the truth because it looks pretty great.

Now a faux headboard is a little "out there" for Adam so he rightfully questioned the rationale:
Adam: Why a headboard?
plasticann: [indignantly] Well, it's not comfortable for our guests to lean against a wall. It's better to have a headboard.
Adam: Ummm, if it's a decal headboard, won't they STILL be leaning against a wall?
plasticann: [long pause] Harumphhh! Yes, but it looks better!!!

Lights:
The room only had overhead flood lights so it was rather dim at night. Plus, you have to turn off the lights at the door and then carefully shuffle back to bed in the dark. I wanted to add lighting to each side of the bed, but I didn't want to hire an electrician. I found this double sconce from Pottery Barn Teen that simply plugged in. Two lights, fully adjustable, easy peasy. On a related note, I did have to enter my age when I bought this sconce from PBTeen and verify that I was actually over the age of 13.

Nightstand / Writing Desk:
Our guest room had no nightstands. There were surfaces one could use to perch a phone or a pair of glasses, but nothing that resembled a nightstand. plasticmom also mentioned that our guest room had no desk. No where to put a computer, write a note, put stuff on, etc. Adding two nightstands and a desk all while keeping it "spacious" and "uncluttered" seem like a tall order so I had to be a little creative. I bought two metal wall mounted fold down desks like the ones you see on boats, doctor's offices and factory floors. We hung them at around 29 inches high for the table surface so it functions as a combination nightstand/desk that's just big enough for a laptop. I stuck a power strip on the side of one desk to keep it off the floor. Since the desk is metal, it's also magnetic.

Bonus improvements:

• Blackout shades so people can actually sleep past 6am now
• Luggage rack so you don't have to put your stuff on the floor
• Brand new white sheets
• ...and I hung some antlers to top it off...paper antlers of course. 

Our first guest arrives tomorrow night. I'll have to send him a NPS survey to get some feedback. 

Black Sesame Cold Noodles

We had the Zoritys over for dinner last night so I broke out the tub of Black Sesame Spread I bought from Costco in Taipei and made Black Sesame Cold Noodles with toppings for a refreshing summer dinner. Everyone had seconds, even Zwan the 1.5 year old. You know it's good when the kids keep eating it since they don't lie...yet.

Source: Costco in Taipei

From 12 o'clock: scallions, seaweed, red bell peppers, chicken, egg crepe and cucumbers

Black Sesame Noodles adapted from a Food Network Recipe

Recipe: Black Sesame Noodles (serves 6-8)

Noodles - blend the following ingredients into a sauce:

• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 2-3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 inch grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup black sesame paste (or use 1/2 cup peanut butter)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/4-3/5 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup water

Boil 1 pound Angel Hair Pasta or Spaghetti

Drain pasta, mix with black sesame sauce and cool. You can eat it warm, hot or cold so it's really up to you.

Toppings:

• Chicken
• Egg Crepe
• Cucumbers
• Seaweed
• Bell Peppers
• Scallions
• really anything you want